Hail HYDRA

Chapter Six

Aileen finished with her shower after a long while. She exited her room, half expecting Bucky to be gone. He had no reason to stay any longer. She removed his tracker, he could leave on his own free will and she would never see him again. She was happy to see that he hadn't. The man was curled up on her couch. She wondered why he hadn't pulled it out, but then she remembered he probably didn't know how. She should have done it for him, but it was too late now, the man was fast asleep.

She stopped for a moment when she saw the picture of her father and her on the ground. The frame had shattered to pieces. She wanted to wake the man up and slap him. That was the only real picture the girl had left with her and her father. She took a deep breath, telling herself that the picture itself was fine. It was only the frame that was shattered and she could replace that. She picked up the frame along with the large shards of glass. She removed the picture and went to go throw the glass and frame away. She thumbed over her father's face as she stared down at the picture. She decided the photo would be better suited in her room, anyway. She walked into her room, leaving the door open and set the photo down on her bedside table. What would her father think of her now? Would he be disappointed? Proud? She didn't dwell on the thoughts very long as she crawled into bed and fell asleep quickly.

-

Aileen awoke to a sudden rapping on her front door. She quickly got out of bed. The little scruffy dog had curled at the end of the bed as soon as she jumped up he did too. What am I going to name you? She asked herself as she quickly trotted out of her room. She was nervous that HYDRA had found her. If they knew she had the Winter Soldier, what would they do? Would they take him back? No, she wouldn't let them this time. When she got into the living room she noticed that Bucky was pointing a pistol at the door, finger hovering over the trigger.

"Woah, woah." She said softly. She had thin walls. "Let me see who it is." She told him with a gentle tone. He lowered the gun, but she noticed he still had his finger over the trigger, ready to squeeze it at any moment. Aileen nervously looked through the peephole. She let out a sign of relief when she saw who it was.

"Hey, Bill." She said kindly as she opened the door, Bucky was now standing out of his view.

"Aileen, I just wanted to come check up on you." Her landlord said scenserly. "I saw what happened on the news and I know you worked in the building, just wanted to make sure you were okay." The man was older, he had a great heart. He had been there for her when her father died and helped her out a little bit, giving her extended weeks on paying her rent and that such thing. He did more than a lot of people would have.

"Thanks, Bill." She said, giving him a wavering smile. She knew Bucky still had that pistol in his hands.

"Is everything alright?" He asked as he saw the look in her eyes. The scruffy dog soon came to her side. "Oh, you got a dog." He said happily as he bent down to scratch the dog.

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you. I hope it's okay. I'll pay whatever extra I have to." She told him as she looked down at the dog.

"Nonsense, dogs are welcome." He said. "What's the little guy's name?" She had no time to think so she quickly just spat out the first thing that came to mind.

"Uh, Steve." She said. The man chuckled a little, at such a human name for a dog.

"It suits him. Well, I'm glad you're okay, Aileen. Have a good rest of your day, honey." He said as he started to walk off.

"You too." She said as she quickly shut the door. She turned around to see Bucky, still clutching the pistol, but his finger was off the trigger now. "You can put that away now." She said as she ran her fingers through her hair. "We really shouldn't stay here, though. We need to find a place to lay low."

"We." The man spoke. "Look, you've done a lot for me and I really appreciate it, but I can't ask you to do anything more."

"I can help you." She said. "I probably know more about you than you know about yourself. I know it must be hard to remember a lot of things, but I can help you remember. Plus, if they do come for me, I couldn't imagine a better person to protect me." She grinned.

"I'm putting you at risk." He said, his blue eyes were full of turmoil and regret.

"Dude, you've already put me at risk." Aileen shrugged a little. "Come on, don't you want to come on an adventure with me and little Stevie?" She asked, her pale pink lips unturning into a smile.

Bucky stared at her. If this were a different time we would certainly be trying to charm her. She was too beautiful not to. He slowly let out a laugh, causing Aileen to smile even wider.

"See, progress!" She joked.

"Steve really." He muttered as he looked down at the dog.

"I don't want to talk about it." Aileen said quickly as she quickly avoided his judging eyes. She went into her closet and grabbed a backpack. "Here, you can have my extra." She said as she tossed a large black backpack in his direction. "Grab those papers, they might help you." She said as she motioned to the papers that covered her wall. "I'll get packed and we can head out." She wasn't sure where they were going to go, but as far away from HYDRA was preferable.

Bucky sat down on Aileen's couch as he picked up a small leather bound notebook and started thumbing through it. It had pictures of him and Steve. He stared at the old picture of himself when he had just entered the war. He wanted so badly to go back to that person, but he couldn't escape the thoughts of innocent people he had killed in the name of HYDRA. Those were the only memories that were coming back to him easily. He noticed a pen on her coffee table and scribbled something down in the notebook. I'm with you till the end of the line.

"Oh, good, you're writing stuff down, feel free to do more of that. It should help." Aileen said as she exited her room with a backpack full of stuff, guns, ammo, clothes, knives, the essentials. "You ready to go metal man?"

"Just Bucky." He told her, seriously.

"Oh-Oh okay, sorry. Bucky." She nodded. "Well, Bucky, I don't think I ever gave you my name. Aileen, Aileen Clarke." She said as she reached out a hand. He slowly took her hand in his right one, giving her a soft handshake. "Nice to meet you, Bucky. Ready to go?" She asked.